Her Love is Like a Drug
by jlf44
Summary: Bella is spoilt for choice when it comes to the opposite sex, but who will she choose in the end? Set during New Moon, after the Cullens have left.
1. Chapter 1

_**What you need to know…**_

_**Takes place during New Moon.**_

_**Bella is at Emily's house after seeing Paul phase.**_

_**Everything is as it was in New Moon; Cullens are gone, Bella is the vampire girl, Jake & Bella are best friends. Eventual Jake/Bella pairing.**_

_**Finally, thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you enjoy it! Please review and let me know what you think, and I will do my best to update twice a week.**_

**All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.**

**CHAPTER ONE**

**BELLA POV**

I grabbed a muffin, knowing that I needed to eat something to help calm the emotions that were running through me at that moment. I placed myself in the corner of the kitchen, leaning against the counter and feeling very awkward. Emily's words had said it all; I was the vampire girl, so of course I didn't belong here. Not that she had made me feel unwelcome, in fact she had been very friendly even though I was pretty much the enemy in this situation. After all, one of the pack had just got so angry at the sight of me that he had turned into a wolf and tried to attack me. Luckily Jacob was there to protect me, as always. My stomach churned at that thought; was Jacob okay? Embry and Jared didn't seem concerned, but that wasn't helping my nerves.

As I took little bites of the muffin, Sam walked through the door and glanced at me briefly before striding straight over to Emily. I thought I had been feeling awkward before, but now I felt the overwhelming urge to run through the door just so that I could get away from the emotional scene before me. The love that radiated from both Sam and Emily was sickening to the boys, but it caused me physical pain.

I tried not to look at the loved up pair, but couldn't help notice the adoration on Sam's face as he kissed Emily's scars. My mind instantly wandered to memories of Edward, but luckily the reappearance of Jake distracted me from the burning hole in my chest.

He walked into the house with Paul, and I was surprised to see them laughing and pushing each other playfully. I let out a relieved breath when I saw that Jacob was in one piece. He scanned the room and when his eyes found me his face broke into a huge grin, which I returned with a small, weak smile. He headed towards me and my eyes flickered across to Paul, who was watching me intently. He quickly looked away when our eyes met and sat himself down at the table with the others, and I looked back to Jacob as he came to stand at my side.

"You okay?" he asked me, draping a comforting arm around my shoulders.

"Yeah," I mumbled, as it wasn't entirely true. I quickly looked him up and down as I said, "Are you?"

He scoffed. "'Course I am, Bells. Paul's got nothing on me." He laughed, squeezing my shoulder slightly. I felt eyes on me again and looked back at the table. Paul was once again staring at me, with an expression I could only describe as confusion. Whatever it was, I was just glad he no longer looked like he wanted to kill me. He held my gaze for a few seconds, then turned to Jared.

Sam spoke up then, stepping forward without breaking his embrace with Emily. "OK guys, we have news," he announced in a business-like tone. "We now know what the red-head is after, so we can change strategies starting with the next patrol. It should be pretty straight forward to catch her now."

I glanced around the room, taking in the expressions. Jacob and Paul didn't look phased by this information, but Jared and Embry were looking at Sam in confusion.

"Go on then, what's she after?" Embry asked when he realised Sam wasn't going to continue. Sam and Paul both looked in my direction, and Jacob tightened his hold on me.

"She's after me," I announced, surprising everyone including myself with the strength of my voice. "Long story, but yeah… she wants to kill me."

"It's OK, they'll know the story when we next phase," Jacob whispered into my ear. "Shared mind, remember?"

I nodded, remembering what Jacob had just told me on the beach about the pack being able to hear one another's thoughts. That would save me from having to tell them all about my run in with James last year.

"Right, well I'm gonna get Bells home now. She's had a lot to deal with today." Jacob told everyone, giving Paul a meaningful look which made him bow his head.

"Just wait a few minutes Jacob, we need to discuss things with Bella. She plays a big part in the hunt now." Sam told him, turning his head to face me. "Bella, would you mind spending as much time as possible on the res for now? Just until we catch the red-head. We can protect you better if you're on our land."

"Yeah, anything I can do to help," I replied, nodding. "I need to think of something to tell Charlie though…"

"Don't worry about that Bells, we'll sort things out." Jacob told me with a reassuring smile. I smiled back, feeling very appreciative towards the pack. After all, I was the vampire girl, and they were all putting their lives on the line to protect me.

I looked away from Jake to address them all again. "Thank you all, for everything. I know I don't deserve your help, so… thanks." I said, feeling pathetic. How did I always end up in these situations where I couldn't protect myself? I hated feeling so helpless and weak.

"Not like we have a choice!" Paul suddenly muttered, earning a look from everyone else in the room. I heard a low growl come from Jacob, and Paul abruptly jumped from the table and ran out the back door.

"I'll talk to him." Sam said quietly, looking at Jacob. He nodded in reply and started to steer me towards the front door. He didn't speak until we were in my truck, Jake driving.

"Ignore Paul. He's kind of an idiot. Never known anyone with such a short fuse, so it doesn't help that he bursts into a wolf every time he loses his temper." he laughed, giving me a weary glance. "Are you okay?"

I nodded. "He's kind of scary."

Jake snorted. "Don't let him scare you. He'll never hurt you, I promise."

I gave him a small smile, feeling exhausted. After five minutes of silence he spoke up again.

"So, if you pack some things together tonight I'll pick you up in the morning to take you to my place. Don't worry though, I'll be patrolling round your house tonight so you'll be completely safe."

"Are you sure Billy won't mind?" I asked uncertainly. During my persistent attempts at contacting Jake over the last couple of weeks, I hadn't exactly been polite to Billy.

"Sure, sure. He loves you, Bells." He told me, shooting a reassuring smile at me. "Plus, Charlie will feel better about you being away from home if you're with us, you know how much he likes me." He said, wiggling his eyebrows and making me laugh.

"Yeah, he really does love you." I thought of how Charlie was with Jake compared to how he behaved with Edward, and chuckled at the difference. We sat in a comfortable silence for a while, and I realised that I hadn't even flinched when I thought of Edward. Maybe things were going to get better for me now I had Jacob back again.

As we pulled up to my driveway I felt a little pang of loneliness at the thought of Jacob leaving me, even though I knew I would be seeing him again in the morning. We both got out of the truck and he walked me to the door.

"So, I'll be here in the morning for you. I'll know when you get up, so I'll wait for you to get ready and we can take your truck."

"Okay, see you tomorrow." I told him, as he pulled me into a rib-crushing Jacob Black hug.

"Sleep well, Bells." He grinned, before running off into the forest at the side of my house as I unlocked the door and let myself in.

It was only four in the afternoon but I decided to take a bath then have an early night, having had quite an eventful day. When Charlie got home from work I told him about my plans to spend spring break with Jake on the res. He was confused as to why I wanted to go to stay with Jake after how upset I had been the day before, but Billy must have already spoken to him because he didn't seem that surprised. I went up to my room and changed into my tank top and shorts, taking a quick look out of the window to see if I could spot Jake. A hint of russet fur amongst the green of the trees eased my anxiety, and I went to bed feeling much safer than I had in a long time.


	2. Chapter 2

**All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer**

**CHAPTER TWO**

I woke early the next morning after my early night, but Charlie had already gone to work. I had a shower, taking my time to dry my hair properly so that it was straight, then headed downstairs to make some breakfast. Just as I reached the kitchen there was a knock at the back door, and I opened it to find Jake standing there with a big smile on his face.

"Morning, Bells," he announced brightly as he pulled me into a hug.

"Morning. Hungry?" I asked, turning back to the kitchen and digging for ingredients for pancakes.

Jake took a seat at the table, giving me a look that seemed to say, 'what do you think?'

I laughed, "Right, stupid question. Wolf thing."

He gave me a wolfy grin in response, watching me as I cooked.

"Well wolf, you could help me out and get some plates out." I told him, glancing over my shoulder. He jumped up quickly and pulled two plates out of the cupboard before standing behind me.

"Smells great, Bells." He announced, sniffing the air appreciatively. Just then we were interrupted by a knock at the front door, which I sent Jacob to answer as I piled the pancakes onto his plate. I heard voices, then the door shut with a little too much force.

"Who was it?" I asked, turning round and letting go of the plate of pancakes in shock. Paul was standing there staring at me, with Jacob at his shoulder looking pissed off. Luckily he managed to catch the plate before it hit the floor.

"Oh… Hi, Paul." I said nervously as he straightened up and handed me the plate.

"Hi, Bella," he replied, scratching the back of his head with his free hand and looking uncomfortable. "Look, I just came to apologise. For the way I acted yesterday, I'm sorry if I scared you." He mumbled quickly, looking anywhere but at my face.

"No, it's fine-" I started, before he interrupted me with a hand raised towards me.

"It's not fine, I need to learn to control my temper better. I'm sorry, Bella." He said, finally looking me in the eye.

I gave him a smile, feeling a little uncomfortable. "Breakfast?" I asked him, earning myself an annoyed expression from Jake.

"Sure, I mean, if you don't mind?"

"No, it's fine. Take a seat." I told him, motioning to the table where Jacob had already sat down and made a start on the mountain of pancakes and syrup.

I turned back to the oven to start another batch, hearing Jacob muttering something too low for me to hear. I turned round and he smiled at me. "These are great Bells" he said through a mouthful of food.

"You should try getting some manners, dog" I laughed as I turned back to serve up the fresh pancakes. Paul snorted and I heard a thud that sounded like Jacob had kicked him under the table.

I dished up another pancake mountain covered in syrup and placed it in front of Paul, who gave me a small smile. I realised it was the first time I had seen him smile, and he looked much less intimidating. I sat down next to Jake with my own plate and tucked in, hearing Paul mumble his praise.

"These really are great Bella." He told me, and I noticed he had waited till his mouth was empty to speak which made me smile.

"Thanks."

We sat and ate in silence, before Jacob spoke up.

"I was thinking we should have a bonfire tonight." He said, looking to Paul and then me.

"Sure, if Sam will let us off patrol for a while." Paul answered, seeming happy at the suggestion.

"What's the occasion?" I asked, thinking it must have been someone's birthday.

"We don't ever really need an occasion," Paul laughed, looking to Jacob. "Just an excuse to hang out on the beach and eat all Emily's food."

"Well actually, we can celebrate Bella moving to La Push. Plus, it'll probably be the last opportunity we get for a while, what with hunting the red-headed leech."

"True." Paul nodded.

"I'll let Sam know when I've got Bells settled in at my place, so he can let Emily know to make a start on the food."

"I can help with the food," I suddenly spoke up, feeling a little left out. "I mean, you're all doing so much for me already-"

"Don't worry about it Bells", Jake cut me off. "It's what we do."

"Yeah well, I still worry about you." I replied quietly. Truthfully I was scared to death at the thought of Jacob, or any of the other boys, out hunting for Victoria.

"Your lack of faith in us is pretty insulting," he laughed, taking my hand across the table. I noticed Paul look away abruptly. "Catching the red-head will be a piece of cake now we know what she's after, and you'll be in La Push so we won't have to patrol such a big area."

I smiled and nodded, still not convinced. "Yeah well, I just know first-hand how strong vampires are, so I'm always going to worry." I told him, absentmindedly rubbing the scar that James had left on my hand. The small action caught both the boys' attention, and I instantly realised my mistake as I tried to hide my hand from view.

"What do you mean, Bells?"

"What is that, Bella?"

They both spoke at the same time, and Paul made a grab for my hand. He held it in his own much more gently than I thought he would have been capable of, studying the scar. He looked up into my eyes for a second and I know he must have seen my fear in them. His body started to convulse, and he ran for the door muttering something that sounded like 'sorry' over his shoulder.

The room was silent for a minute before Jacob spoke again. "Did _he _do that to you, Bella? And how are you still human?" he added as an afterthought. I could see he was struggling to keep calm, his face looked tense and his hands were shaking.

"No, Edward didn't do this. It was James, the vampire I told you about before. He was Victoria's mate. He came after me last spring, and Edward killed him."

"You didn't say he had bit you!" he stammered, his hands shaking even more but he continued to hold on to both of mine.

"Yeah, he bit me. And broke my leg. But Edward sucked the venom out, so I didn't turn into one of them."

He was silent for a moment, seeming to think through what I had said. "I would've thought he wanted to turn you."

"No, he wanted me to stay human." Talking about my past with Edward was beginning to cause the familiar pain in my chest, but Jacob seemed to sense this as he changed the subject.

"Shall we get going? I think Paul's probably going to need a spare pair of shorts, or he'll be walking home naked." We both giggled at the thought, and I went upstairs to grab my bag and the keys for my truck. I left Charlie a note in the kitchen to let him know I would call later, and we left for La Push.

When we got to Jacob's house, Billy was waiting for us on the porch.

"Hey Billy," I said in an attempt to sound friendly, feeling bad for being rude to him over the last couple of weeks when he had tried to keep me from contacting Jake, not knowing that he was trying to protect me from a volatile young wolf.

"Hi Bella" he replied with a smile and a nod of his head. "You just missed Paul, he knocked on the door butt naked and asked to borrow a pair of shorts."

We both giggled as Jake took my bag from me and led me inside. "Yeah, you know Paul." He laughed, and Billy gave him a knowing look. I let Jake go ahead of me to his room to deposit my bag, and turned back to Billy.

"Are you sure you don't mind me staying here, Billy?" I asked him, feeling really bad for intruding. He seemed to read my thoughts as he replied.

"It will be a nice change, Bella. Me and Jacob have been alone here for too long, we need a woman to kick us back into touch. Plus I've heard all about your cooking from Charlie, and I think you know how useless we are in the kitchen."

I laughed, knowing just how bad Jake was at cooking. "Well it'll be my pleasure to make sure you both get some proper meals."

"No, it'll be _my_ pleasure." Jake spoke up from behind me, and I turned to see him patting his stomach with a big smile on his face. "She makes some mean pancakes, dad."

Billy smiled at me as he said, "I think Charlie will have to fight us to get you back." We all chuckled at that, and Jacob stepped forwards and took my hand.

"We're gonna head over to Emily's place, I was thinking of throwing a bonfire tonight." Jacob told Billy as we headed for the door.

"Yeah, Paul already mentioned something about it. Just make sure you're all on full alert, what with the present situation." Billy replied, sounding every inch the chief of the tribe.

"Sure, sure." Jacob gave his signature laidback reply as we stepped through the door and headed for Emily's.


	3. Chapter 3

**All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer**

**CHAPTER THREE**

After spending the day at Emily's house helping her prepare enough food to last eight normal people a week, the sky grew dark and we left the house to meet the others. Jacob and Sam carried the food while we walked to First beach where the driftwood had been lit, and the other wolves were already sat around the huge fire. Jared was sitting on a log with his girlfriend, and Embry and Paul were tossing a football around a little way from them. I caught Paul's gaze and he looked away, a sheepish expression on his face.

I was amazed at how quickly the boys demolished the piles of food we had spent all day preparing, but Emily told me she was used to it. When everything had been eaten, the pack began a game of football a little way from us, leaving us girls to speak.

"So, how does this compare to a day with the leeches, Vampire Girl?" Emily asked, a smirk on her face. She had been using the nickname for me all day, and I could tell she didn't mean it in an insulting way. We had actually got on really well, and she had filled me in on a lot of things about the pack.

"I've really enjoyed today, actually. It's been really… normal." I laughed, struggling for a word to describe life with the pack. But that was exactly how it had felt, normal. I seemed to fit in here even though I had felt awkward in the beginning. All the feelings of not being good enough I used to experience with the Cullens didn't exist with Jacob and his friends. It had all been very easy and natural.

"Good." She replied simply. "I could definitely get used to having you around to help; keeping the pack fed is like having a full time job." We sat like this for a while, chatting and giggling while Emily told us funny stories about various members of the pack.

A little later on the boys came back to sit with us around the fire. Kim was asleep with her head resting on Jared's shoulder, and Emily and Sam were snuggling together, so I sat with Jake, Embry and Paul. I noticed Paul kept eyeing me nervously, like he wanted to say something. Eventually he got up and walked over to me, asking if he could speak to me. I gave Jake a nervous look, but he just shrugged so I got up and followed Paul away from the others.

"Look, about earlier…" he finally started when we were out of hearing distance.

"Don't worry about it, Paul. You can't apologise every time you phase." I laughed, and he joined in a little.

"I guess not." He stopped walking then and turned to me. "Can I?" he asked, motioning to my hand. I didn't say anything, but held my hand up for him. He bent his head towards it, studying it and stroking the scar gently with one of his long fingers. His hands shook slightly, but nothing like the other times when he had turned into a wolf.

After a couple of minutes of staring at the scar he lifted his gaze to meet my eyes. He wasn't as big as Jacob, but was still probably a foot bigger than me so I had to look up quite a way. His eyes carried an intensity I couldn't figure out, and I noticed after a minute that he hadn't dropped my hand. When I started to feel uncomfortable with the silence, I tore my eyes away from his and looked back towards the rest of the pack. He dropped my hand quickly and looked away from me.

"Sorry, you should get back to Jake." He told me, setting off back to the others. Before we made it more than a few steps however, he stopped abruptly and sniffed. Letting out a loud, menacing growl he began to shake uncontrollably, looking towards the forest at the edge of the beach. The others seemed to have understood his growl and I saw them running for the trees, shifting into wolves on the way. Without warning Paul grabbed me and lifted me over his shoulder in a fireman lift, running with me back to Emily and Kim.

"What the hell?" I managed to shout out as he carefully put me down next to Emily.

"Red-head," he stated simply, nostrils flaring in anger. "Stay _right _here till one of us comes back for you." He ordered, heading for the trees and phasing into his silver wolf. I waited until the last of his tail was no longer visible through the trees before turning to face the other girls. They both looked terrified, looking towards the forest after their partners. I suddenly felt sick to my stomach and ran towards the sea, heaving from the terror I felt at what could happen to Jake. I knew only too well how strong and fast vampires were, and I couldn't understand how the wolves could be a match for Victoria.

When I gained more control of myself I headed back to Kim and Emily, and we all sat on a log by the fire staring towards the forest in silence. About five minutes later a wolf emerged from amongst the trees, and my stomach dropped when I saw that its fur was brown. I wasn't sure if it was Embry or Jared, but my heart sunk when I realised that it wasn't my russet brown Jacob.

"Jared?" Kim called, and he turned and nodded his head slightly at us.

"Sam will have sent him to make sure the leech doesn't double back to come for Bella," Emily said knowingly, sounding every inch the alpha's mate. She seemed to quickly realise that her words might have distressed me, and rubbed my back gently. We sat like that for an indiscernible length of time, all slightly trembling from both fear for the pack and the absence of the heat they generated.

After what felt like hours Jared trotted behind the trees, reappearing a moment later in his human form. He walked back over to us and pulled Kim into a firm hug.

"Sam's told me to come and take you all home, they're on their way back." He told us, gathering up the blankets and various other things we had left around the fire.

"Are they all okay? Did they get her?" Emily asked, anxiety still clear in her voice.

"They're all fine. Didn't get her though. Chased her almost to Canada, she's so good at avoiding getting caught."

Emily nodded and we both let out a quick sigh of relief. We grabbed the rest of the containers from the food and headed for Emily's house, as it was nearest.

"Jacob's gonna come and get you from here, Bella." Jared told me, and we said our goodbyes to him and Kim before heading into the house. Emily instantly went into the kitchen and started washing the containers, so I grabbed a towel to dry for her.

"I always try to keep busy when Sam's out on his duties," Emily explained to me as she handed me the last container. "Stops me going crazy. I think it's an imprint thing."

I looked at her in confusion. "Imprint? What's that?"

She stopped and looked at me for a second, as if she had said something she shouldn't have, but quickly continued. "Wolf thing. Not important right now, I'm sure Jacob will tell you about it when he gets chance. He really likes you, you know."

I nodded, not missing her attempt to dismiss the subject. "I know he does, and I really like him."

She studied my face for a moment before speaking. "But not in the same way?" she asked.

I stopped and thought for a minute, caught off guard by the turn in the conversation. "I don't know, I've not really had chance to think about it. I mean, I don't think I'm ready for a relationship, not after Edward. I don't want to go through that pain again." I confided in her, shocking myself with what I was saying. I hadn't told anyone this.

"You know that Jake would never hurt you right? He wouldn't leave you like the vampire did."

I nodded. "I know he wouldn't. But I can't risk losing him, Emily. He's my best friend and I need him so much, too much probably. He's only 16, he could change his mind about me at any moment."

She didn't say anything to that, but gave me a look that seemed to say she knew something I didn't.

We were saved from any further awkward conversation then when Sam burst into the room and strode over to Emily, pulling her flush to his body in an intimate embrace. I looked away abruptly, and was relieved to see Jacob motioning to me from the doorway. We slipped out of the house and he instantly grabbed me and pulled me into the air for a Jacob hug. I could barely breathe but I didn't care, I was just happy that he was unharmed.

"Do you mind if I carry you?" he asked as he held me there, and I shook my head against his chest. I was glad he had asked, the events of the night had drained me and all I wanted to do now was go to bed. I had completely forgotten to ask Jake what Emily had meant by an 'imprint'.

He carried me back to his house, cradling me against his chest and holding me a little tighter than usual. I could tell that the close encounter had unsettled him; his whole body seemed tense. When we made it to his room he set me down at the side of his bed and went to have a shower while I changed my clothes. Once I had changed into my usual tank top and shorts I crawled into his bed, falling asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I woke up about ten minutes later when Jacob had come in after the shower, and saw him putting a pillow on the floor and getting ready to lay down there.

"Jake?" I asked, rubbing my eyes groggily.

"Sorry Bells, I didn't mean to wake you."

"What are you doing?"

"Going to sleep," he replied, as if I was crazy.

"No I mean, why are you laying on the floor?"

"Well, I thought-"

I cut him off by shaking my head and motioning for him to get on the bed. "I'm not letting you sleep on the floor when you just ran all that way. Plus I bet you didn't sleep last night did you?"

He gave me a sheepish look, then got up and sat on the edge of the bed. I wriggled over to the other side of the bed to give him room, and he lay down.

"Night Jake." I whispered when we had both got settled.

"Night Bells, sleep tight." he replied quietly.


	4. Chapter 4

**All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer**

**CHAPTER FOUR**

I woke up just before ten the next morning which was late for me, but Jacob was still asleep beside me, snoring soundly. Somehow during the night I had ended up with my head on his chest and his arm was around my waist, so I had to wriggle a little to get out of bed. I left him to sleep while I went to make breakfast. Finding some pancake mix in the cupboard, I got to work once I had found everything I needed from the various kitchen cupboards. As I was dishing them up I heard footsteps behind me, and then felt a warm arm circling around my waist. I smiled, putting my hand on his arm.

"What did I do to deserve to wake up to this?" he asked me, sniffing at the pancakes and resting his chin on my shoulder.

"Oh I don't know, protecting me from vampires, being my best friend, making me happy… you want me to go on?" I asked, turning my head a little to smile at him.

"Well I'll have to keep doing those things if I get pancakes every morning," he laughed, moving to the side to get some plates out of a cupboard. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, really well actually. I think you have a calming effect on me." I said, laughing. It was the truth, when Jacob was nearby I never had nightmares.

"I know what you mean, I slept like a log. Not slept like that in ages" he said, handing me a plate to flip the pancakes onto while he grabbed the syrup.

We had just sat down at the kitchen table to eat when I realised Billy wasn't around. "Where's your dad?" I asked him, getting up to grab some orange juice from the fridge.

"Fishing with your dad. We thought that might be safer than letting him go out in the forest to search for those big bad wolves you told him about," he said, raising his eyebrows a little at me and chuckling as I handed him a glass of juice.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I didn't exactly know it was you, did I! I remember thinking of you though, when I saw your wolf. Weird, huh?"

"You saying I look like a wolf, Swan?" he asked, raising his eyebrows again and smirking.

"I suppose you must do, yeah." I laughed, sitting back down to eat my breakfast.

When we finished eating, Jacob let out a satisfied noise and sat back in his chair. "I could definitely get used to this."

"Well, it depends how long it takes to catch Victoria," I said, instantly feeling his mood dampen a little. I didn't want him to lose the cheerfulness that was reminding me of the old Jake before all the supernatural business, so I quickly changed the subject. "So, what are we doing today?"

"It's up to you, a walk maybe? I have to patrol tonight with Sam so you've been invited to a girly sleepover thing at Emily's, if you want to go?"

"That sounds great." I smiled at him. Having a girly night with Emily would definitely keep my mind off more serious matters, even if I wasn't particularly girly myself.

We took it in turns in the shower and got dressed, then went for a walk along the beach, hand in hand as always. Afterwards we went home to watch TV, and I made dinner for Jake. When it got to 7pm I grabbed my pyjamas and Jake walked me to Emily's, before he went to patrol with Sam.

As soon as the boys were gone Emily turned into a giggly teenager, showing me all the things she had planned for us to do. She made us change into our pyjamas first, then we went to the kitchen to bake. Once I had put the first batch of brownies into the oven, she began to dig through the fridge and retrieved a bottle of wine. She poured two glasses and handed me one. I had never drunk any alcohol before, what with being the chief of police's daughter, so I'm sure I must have looked nervous.

"Don't worry Bella, I won't tell anyone," Emily laughed as she took a big gulp from her glass. "Movie time!" she announced, leading me from the kitchen with the bottle still in her hand.

We watched Pretty Woman while we chatted about everything, but mainly the boys. I was amazed at how much she clearly loved Sam; the way she spoke about him was like she knew she would spend the rest of her life with him. I couldn't understand why she was so confident that they would stay together; relationships end all the time! I had thought with Edward that I would always be with him, but that was different as I had planned to give up my humanity to be with him. And in the end, I had been wrong about our relationship anyway as he clearly didn't love me the way I loved him. I couldn't see me ever believing a normal human relationship would last forever, but then again maybe I had been emotionally scarred by the failure of my parents' marriage and the way Edward had abandoned me.

Emily kept trying to get me to talk about my feelings for Jacob, and by the time we finished the bottle of wine I found myself saying a lot of things I wouldn't normally have admitted.

"He's just so… hot!" I told her, slurring my words a little. "I mean, his abs… his shoulders… his butt! And they're all the same, everything about them is God-like!"

Emily was giggling away, agreeing with me. "Tell me about it! And I get to go to bed with Sam every night, so I know the God-like qualities don't end there!" she told me, wiggling her eyebrows at me and I felt myself blushing. "Oh, come on Bella! You spent all that time with your… ex… and you're still getting embarrassed of me talking about sex?"

"It wasn't like that," I mumbled, taking another sip of wine as the familiar feelings swept through me; the feeling I would get when I tried to take my relationship with Edward further, and he pushed me away.

"You mean… you never…"

"No, I never." I told her, cutting her off from however she planned to finish that sentence.

She looked at me for a long time, wide eyed and open mouthed, as I became redder and redder.

"In that case, you definitely need to take advantage of sleeping in the same bed as Jacob! If he's anything like Sam, you'll never think about anything other than trying to jump him at every opportunity," she laughed, taking in my expression. "I know Jacob would be more than willing!"

I thought about it for a few minutes. But then I realised what I was thinking about. "I can't sleep with Jake! I told you, he's my best friend!"

"Doesn't mean you can't take advantage of the wolf sex. I think they call it friends with benefits?"

At that moment the back door burst open, and Paul and Embry walked in.

"Who's a friend with benefits?" Embry asked, raising his eyebrows at us both with a grin on his face.

Paul looked serious as he took in the scene before him, then laughed. "Are you two drunk?" he asked, a teasing tone to his voice.

"Nope" I told him, dragging the word out a little longer than a sober person would.

"Brownies in the kitchen," Emily told them, knowing that would get them to leave. Sure enough, they moved out of the room at an inhuman speed at the mention of food. "We," she pointed at herself, then at me, "will continue this discussion later." She mouthed, giving me a wink.

I felt myself blush again as the boys came back in and Embry sat himself down next to Emily, looking at me. "Ooooh, what's got Bella Swan blushing?" he asked, grinning and wiggling his eyebrows again at me. I just blushed deeper in response, which even made Paul chuckle as he hovered by the side of the sofa.

"Sit down Paul, you're making the place look untidy," Emily laughed, motioning him to the empty seat next to me. He looked a little worried as he sat next to me, making sure to put as much distance between us as he could. I gave him a hurt look.

"I'm not diseased, Paul." I told him, eyeing the gap between us. Who knew that wine would make me so confident? He gave me a strange look and glanced at Embry, but stayed where he was. I could have just left it, but drunk Bella was on a roll. So I shuffled myself along the sofa until I was touching him, then sat back and made myself comfy. I gave him a long look, daring him to move or complain, but he remained silent and shoved a brownie in his mouth.

Emily and Embry were looking at each other with amused expressions on their faces, but I had no idea what the problem was. "What?" I asked them, raising my eyebrows in annoyance.

"Nothing!" Embry said with a smirk, then glanced at Emily again. "So, what have you guys been up to?" he asked finally, breaking the tension in the room.

"We baked the brownies that you've probably demolished by now, and we just finished watching a movie." Emily told him.

"What movie?"

"Pretty Woman." I answered him.

"Isn't that the one with the prostitute?" he asked, eyes lighting up a little.

"Yeah," Emily said, then couldn't help but make a dig at me. "Not that Bella would know _anything _about that." She snorted, getting up and going to the kitchen to leave me in the aftermath of her comment. I blushed worse than ever.

"What's that supposed to mean, Swan?" Embry asked as his eyebrows rose so high it was a wonder he hadn't strained his facial muscles.

I remained silent, feeling Paul's eyes on me too. I heard Emily laughing away to herself behind me, and she came back into the room with another bottle of wine and filled my glass. I knew it wasn't a good idea for me to drink more, but it was a way to avoid answering the question. So I picked the glass up and began to gulp it down.

Embry seemed to realise what I was doing. "Oh no, you're not getting away with it that easily." He laughed, getting up and prowling towards me. "You ticklish?" he asked me innocently.

"Yeah, especially on my ribs-" I answered too quickly, not thinking about the consequences. Next thing I knew, Embry was on top of me on the sofa, tickling every inch of me he could get to. I got into a defensive position as quickly as possible, kicking Paul repeatedly in the process, but before long I was laughing so hard I could barely breathe. I could hear Emily laughing just as hard from the other sofa.

"You want to tell me now, Bella?" Embry asked me as he got a particularly good shot in my weak spot.

"OK…OK…" I gasped, trying to push him away but he didn't stop his assault on me. "I'm… I'm a… VIRGIN!" I shouted out, and he instantly stopped and stepped away from me. I heard Paul choke on something at the side of me, and Emily carried on laughing. Quickly taking advantage of the sudden freedom I sat myself up straight, realising I had basically been sat on Paul's lap.

When I finally composed myself and looked up, the look of utter shock on both the boys' faces made me cover my own face with my hands. "I can't believe I just said that."

"I definitely didn't expect you to say that! I thought you were going to say you were some sort of fucking expert or something!" Embry said, still sounding shocked. "So you and the bloodsucker-"

"No!" I answered quickly without looking up.

"So… what exactly did you do with him?" Embry asked, obviously knowing he was prying but no longer caring. I felt like an animal in a zoo.

"Nothing. I mean, we kissed a bit, but he never let it get too far." I told him, blushing again at the way I used to practically force myself on Edward, only to be pushed away.

There was a long silence before I dared to take my hands away from my face again, when Paul unexpectedly spoke up.

"Well, thank fuck for that!" he shouted out, laughing. I gave him a look, and he backtracked a little. "I just mean, y'know, he could have hurt you if you…"

"Yeah I know." I told him, getting a little irritated. "Everyone is always _so_ concerned about hurting poor little fragile Bella."

"Werewolves wouldn't hurt you." He answered quietly. I wasn't sure if he had meant for me to hear it or not, but I answered anyway.

"Yeah I know, I've heard all about how great wolf sex is!" I shouted out, looking at Emily with what was supposed to be my best evil stare. Clearly it didn't work, as all four of us began to laugh.

Embry literally rolled on the floor holding his stomach, before he composed himself enough to gasp, "You know, I could always show you just how great wolf sex is…" He was clearly joking so I laughed, but Paul growled and stood up abruptly.

"What's up with you?" Emily asked, as I noticed the tremors rolling through his shoulders. He didn't answer, but turned and walked quickly through the back door.

"He's been acting weird all week," Embry told her, getting up and staring after him. "I think he's shredded a pair of shorts every day with these random angry moments, and he's clearly hiding something from the pack."

"What do you mean?" I asked. I didn't think it was possible for the wolves to hide anything, what with the shared mind.

"He keeps trying his hardest not to think about something, I think it's a girl." He said, sitting back on the sofa and shrugging his shoulders at me.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, and I needed to go to the toilet so I stood up. I suddenly felt very dizzy, probably from the wine, so I excused myself to go and get some fresh air. I walked out the back door and sat on the step there, breathing in deeply and trying to force my nausea to subside. I glanced around the trees, and noticed something moving not far from me.

"Paul?" I asked, bravely at first but suddenly realising it could be anyone out there. Like Victoria. "Paul?" I asked again, panicking a little.

"Yeah Bella it's me, don't worry." His deep voice floated through the trees, then I saw his silhouette approaching me. "You okay? You don't look so good." He said when he got close enough to see my face in the moonlight.

"I feel a bit sick," I admitted as he sat on the step next to me. "Just trying to get it to go away."

Wordlessly, he raised his hand and began to rub my back, gently and soothingly. The heat felt great against my skin, as my tank top didn't do much to keep away the cold air. I leaned back into him a little, feeling better. We stayed like that for a while and I thought the nausea had passed, then all of a sudden I knew I was going to be sick. I got up and ran to a bush at the edge of Emily's garden, kneeling down and trying to claw my hair away from my face before it ended up covered in my vomit.

I felt Paul's warm hand sweep the hair from my face and hold it back, while his other hand continued to rub my back as I got rid of the bottle of wine I had consumed. When I felt like it had passed again I sat back on my heels and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

"Sorry" I whispered, embarrassed that Paul had to witness that. I heard him chuckle, and turned to face him.

"Don't worry about it. We keep on apologising to each other, don't we?"

I had to laugh at that, after all it was completely true. "That was the last time," I told him. "Thanks, you made me feel better."

"Didn't look like it" he laughed again, motioning to the bush.

"No, I mean, the heat. I don't like being cold." We looked at each other for a long moment, acknowledging the double meaning of my words. He smiled at me, and it was the most genuine expression I had seen from him. I smiled back, then shivered. He didn't say anything, but wrapped an arm around me and rubbed his hand up and down my side.

"Let's get you inside." He said, helping me to my feet and leading me back to Emily's house. I felt my legs give out a little as we walked, and he scooped me up and carried me the rest of the way. I was almost asleep by the time we got back to Emily and Embry.

"She's been sick, and she's falling asleep," Paul explained, probably getting strange looks from the others when he walked in cradling me. "Guest room?"

"Yeah, it's already set up." I heard Emily reply, then felt Paul begin to walk again. After a minute he came to a stop and leaned over, placing me on the bed. Obviously remembering my comment about the cold, he placed a blanket over me and pulled it up to my chin. I sensed him standing over me for a moment but didn't open my eyes, then felt his hand moving a strand of hair from my face and placing it behind my ear.

The last thing I remembered was his warm lips touching my forehead, then his deep husky voice in my ear as he said, "Good night, Bella".


	5. Chapter 5

**_I really don't know what happened, but the chapters got mixed up and I didn't even realise till now! I'm such an idiot! I'm really sorry, this is the real chapter five that somehow went missing. Hope the story makes more sense now!_**

**All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer**

**CHAPTER FIVE**

When I woke up the next morning, I had the worst headache I had ever experienced in my life. When I finally dragged myself out of Emily's spare bedroom I was greeted by the smell of bacon, which seemed tempting at first, but then triggered my nausea again and I had to run for the bathroom.

"You okay, Bells?" Jacob's voice appeared from behind me as I bent over the toilet, and I felt his hands pulling my hair back from my face like Paul had done last night.

"Yeah, I'm okay" I finally answered when the heaving had stopped. I turned to face him, and couldn't help but smile. He looked as perfect as ever, aside from the look of concern that covered his face.

"You sure?" he asked, cupping my cheek in his hand. I realised I probably didn't look so good, and confirmed this when I scrambled up to look in the mirror.

"Uh" I groaned, wiping my eyes and pulling my hair back into a ponytail. Jake hovered behind me, still looking concerned until I caught his gaze in the mirror and gave him a smile. He smiled back and leaned forward, kissing the top of my head.

"You should come and get something to eat, Emily's made breakfast."

After getting something into my stomach and taking a shower I did feel a lot better, so I asked Jacob if we had any plans. He told me he had to go and patrol for a few hours with Embry and Jared, but he would see me later and we would have a movie night. I didn't exactly want to intrude on Sam and Emily's alone time, especially after what she had told me last night, so I made my way back to Jake's house. Billy was out; still fishing with Charlie, so I decided to see what was on TV. After flicking through the channels for about an hour I was really bored, so I decided to bake something for the pack. The Blacks' cupboards were pretty much bare, so I grabbed the keys to my truck and drove to the shop that I knew Quil's mum worked at.

On my way back, I spotted one of the boys at the side of the road. They looked so much alike that I couldn't tell who it was until I got closer, when I eventually realised it was Paul. He was sitting at the side of the road with his head in his hands, looking seriously distressed. I instantly panicked, pulling up and jumping out of the truck without even turning the engine off.

"Paul!" I shouted, running towards him. He looked up a little at the sound of my voice, then seemed to look annoyed when he saw me. I ignored his reaction and approached him.

"What's wrong?" I half shouted, struggling to keep my panic under control. He seemed to not want to answer me. "Is it the pack? Is it Jake?"

He looked at me then, shaking his head. "No, it's nothing _you_ need to worry about." He told me, his voice bitter.

"Paul, what's wrong? Maybe I can help you-"

He shook his head, breaking me off. I tried to put my hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off.

"Please Paul, let me help you? You really helped me last night…"

He seemed to come round a little then, and looked up at me. The pain in his eyes nearly brought me to tears, and I didn't even know what had happened. I tried to comfort him again, and this time he let me. I crouched at the side of him, one hand on his shoulder and one rubbing up and down his back. After a while his body relaxed, and he leaned into me.

"Come on," I said, attempting to help him to his feet. "Let's go to Jake's, you'll be comfier there."

He started to shake his head, but I carried on speaking. "Jake's on patrol, and Billy's out. Come on, I'll make you something to eat."

That seemed to persuade him, and he got himself to his feet. I could no longer reach round his shoulder due to the height difference, so I took his hand instead and led him to my truck. He didn't object.

We drove the ten minute journey to the Blacks house in silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable. He sat close to me, my right hand still joined with his. When I stopped the truck and got out he followed me out of the driver side door, looking like a lost puppy. I had never seen any of the boys look like this before.

I got him into the house and he sat down on the sofa while I put the groceries away.

"So, what do you want to eat?" I asked, attempting to cheer him up. "What's your favourite?"

He shook his head a little before looking up at me. "Could we just sit for a minute? I just need to-"

I knew exactly what he wanted, so I sat beside him on the sofa and put my arms around him. He snaked his arm back around my waist, and the other one rested over my legs. I had one of my arms around his shoulders, rubbing his bicep with my hand, whilst the other massaged his scalp. He made a contented noise, so I carried on.

I wasn't sure how long we sat like that for, but after a while Paul's body went limp and I realised he had fallen asleep. I thought I would make him some food for when he woke up, but when I tried to get up his arm instinctively tightened round me, pulling me closer to him. He rested his head on my chest and I knew there was no way I would be able to move him, so I just stayed there for a while stroking his back.

An hour passed before Paul had unconsciously moved enough to let me wriggle free, and I got up and headed to the kitchen to make some food. I made macaroni cheese: enough to feed Paul, and enough to save for Jake and Billy for later. I also made some brownies, as Paul seemed to have enjoyed them last night. I think it must have been the smell of the almost cooked food that hit Paul's wolf senses and woke him up. I didn't even hear him as he walked up behind me and rested his chin on the top of my head, like Jake often did.

"Everything smells really good, Bella. You'll make a good wife one day" he laughed, putting a hand on the small of my back.

"You feeling better now?" I asked him, turning to face him. He was certainly looking better.

"Yeah, sorry for worrying you Bella-"

"I thought we weren't apologising to each other anymore?" I asked, smirking lightly.

"Guess this is the last time," he laughed. "Seriously though, thanks Bella. You're amazing."

I smiled at that. "No problem. Now sit down so I can feed you like a good wife."

He chuckled, but obeyed and sat behind me at the kitchen table. I served him a wolf size portion of macaroni cheese with some bread, then poured him a drink. He smiled at me appreciatively between mouthfuls of food.

I decided to leave him to eat in peace, so I went back to the sofa and put the TV on, settling for a romantic comedy that was being played. Shortly after, Paul came into the room and stood in front of me. He looked uncomfortable, like he wanted to say something.

"You okay?" I asked, prompting him to get whatever it was off his chest.

"I'm great now, thanks to you." He told me, smiling. He then held his hand out. "Can I have a hug?"

I giggled and took his hand "Of course you can."

He smiled wider and pulled me up to my feet, pulling me into a tight hug. We stayed like that for a while, his head rested on my shoulder and my face pressed against his chest, before he broke the silence.

"If you tell any of the pack that I asked for a hug, then I will probably have to kill myself. Just so you know."

I had to laugh at that. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me. I know all about your tough guy reputation, I wouldn't want to ruin that for you."

He laughed into my hair and held onto me for a moment longer, before he pulled back a little to look at me. I saw an intensity in his eyes that I had only ever seen in Jacob's eyes before, and I had to admit it turned me on. That look used to stress me out with Jake, because I never felt ready for him to act on those feelings with me. Maybe now I was finally over Edward, and I could feel for someone else.

Before I had any more time to think about this progress in my recovery from Edward's rejection, Paul's face began to move closer and closer to mine. When his lips were close enough to touch mine he stopped, looking me in the eye. I don't know what came over me in that moment, but I made the decision and quickly closed the distance between us. My lips collided with his soft, hot lips, and they started to move together. It started off soft and gentle, but I soon realised I was gripping his shoulders in an attempt to pull him closer to me. My lips started to move faster, and I opened my mouth and licked his bottom lip. He quickly let my tongue enter his mouth, searching frantically. I realised that all my pent up sexual tension from my time with Edward was spilling over the brim, and I needed to reign it in a little before I started to grind myself on his leg.

Paul didn't appear to mind my sudden aggression; in fact he seemed to return it. His hands were all over me; one stroking my cheek bone and the other roaming along the bottom of my back and my waist. The heat from his body only added to my arousal, and all I could think about was how good this felt compared to making out with Edward. In the battle between fire and ice, fire was most definitely winning.

Feeling like I was about to pass out I finally managed to pull away, panting from both my lack of breath and the passion that had taken over my body. I still held on to him for a minute while I composed myself, then when I let go he just continued to stare at me. I studied his face for a second, his emotions easy to read. I could see the passion there, as well as shock. I couldn't blame him for that; I was as shocked as he was.

"Sorry," I finally breathed out, and we both laughed.

"I think we need to make some sort of pact about not saying that word anymore," he laughed. "Besides, you have nothing to apologise for. I think that was the best kiss I ever had."

I blushed at that, but felt a sense of pride. I was a good kisser? Paul definitely had experience in that area. I fell backwards onto the sofa and we just stared at each other, him looking down at me and me tipping my head back to see his face.

"I want to-" Paul started to say, but was cut off by the door opening behind him. In walked Jake, a look of shock on his face when he saw Paul, but it was quickly replaced by his usual sunny grin when he saw me.

"Hey Bells" he said enthusiastically as I stood up, and he crossed the room easily to pick me up into a hug that almost crushed my ribs, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

"Hey Jake, how was the patrol?" I asked as he held me in the air.

"Fine, no Victoria. Quil phased though, finally. He was going crazy wondering why we were avoiding him." He said, before turning to Paul. "Think Sam wants you to head out and take over for him."

He nodded and turned to me, giving me a meaningful look. "Thanks Bella. For… the food" he said, winking when Jake looked back to me.

"No problem" I told him with a smile.

"See you later," he said as he slipped out the door, still smiling.

When he was sure Paul was out of hearing distance, Jake asked, "He's not been bothering you has he?"

"No, he was upset about something so I brought him here for some food." I told him, skipping over the more personal parts of the story.

"Probably his dad, I don't know how he deals with him sometimes. I'm really lucky that my dad's so cool. So, movie night?"

I didn't want to pry into Paul's private life as he would have told me if he wanted me to know, so I just nodded. "You can pick tonight. And I saved you some macaroni cheese and brownies."

He groaned and smiled at me. "You really are too good to me."

"Well I am staying at your house, I need to help out somehow."

"Bella, you know we love having you here. You don't need to do anything."

I smiled and went to dish him some food up while he picked a movie to watch. No doubt it would be something like the Terminator, that was the kind of film Jake liked. I returned with the food to find him putting on some comedy film I hadn't seen before, and was pleasantly surprised.

"Why not the usual guy film?" I asked as I handed him the plate.

"I like hearing you laugh" he replied simply, before stuffing his face with the macaroni. I smiled, Jake was always so sweet.

When Jacob had finished with his food he put the plate down and reached out for me, and we snuggled up together to watch the film like we had done on many occasions before he had turned into a werewolf. I nuzzled my face into his chest breathing in his earthy smell, and I realised that I now found his scent more appealing than I had ever found Edward's. Things were definitely changing within me.

After the film we went to bed, where we snuggled together like best friends do. There was nothing sexual about it, Jacob was leaving me to figure out my own feelings now and I was extremely grateful for it. As I lay in Jake's arms, surrounded by his heat, I couldn't help but think about Paul's lips as I fell to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer**

**CHAPTER SIX**

The next few days went by like normal, or as normal as life could be living with a pack of teenage wolves. Jake and Embry were visibly happier now that Quil had phased, and the three friends were back together again. When they weren't patrolling they would usually be at Jacob's house keeping me company, which was nice as they were always so carefree and I rarely thought about the threat of Victoria when they were around.

I went over to Emily's to help out at meal times a lot, and these were the only times I would see Paul. We hadn't had any time alone together, but he was much friendlier with me now in front of the others. Emily had picked up on this and asked me about it, but I had just shrugged it off.

One night when we were all round at Sam and Emily's place, the 'imprint' word came up again and I made a mental note to ask Jake about it. So that night as we were walking along the beach back to his house, hand in hand, I asked him.

"Jake, why do people keep calling Emily an imprint?"

He didn't make eye contact with me, and looked nervous as he searched for the right words to explain. "Imprinting is another wolf thing, probably the most powerful thing. It's hard to describe properly, but basically it is when a wolf finds their soul mate. I suppose the wolf falls in love with that person, like love at first sight but much stronger. Nothing in the world matters more to the wolf than their imprint."

"And Emily is Sam's imprint?"

"Yeah, and Kim is Jared's. No one else has imprinted, according to the tribal stories it's really rare, so there's no saying that anyone else will imprint."

"So… you haven't imprinted?"

He paused for a moment before answering my question. "No, I haven't. But to be honest, I don't think I will. There's only one girl I've ever felt anything for, and if I don't imprint on her then there's no way it'll happen."

I glanced at him, thinking he was speaking about me but I wasn't entirely sure. We hadn't spoken about 'us' in that way for a long time. "Do you want to imprint?"

"I dunno… I mean, I can see the good things about it. Having that guarantee that you'll be happy with your mate forever must be nice but, it's not exactly fair on the imprint. I mean, wouldn't you want a choice?" he asked, turning to look at me for the first time during the conversation.

"Yeah, I suppose. But it can't be a bad thing, can it? I mean, look at Sam and Emily. They're so happy."

"Yeah, they are." He said quietly, looking down at me with a thoughtful expression on his face. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, sure." I said, making him smile.

"Do you think you are over Edward? You don't have to answer if you don't want…"

"No, it's fine Jake. I think I am. I mean, I don't feel that pain in my chest when I think of him like I used to. And I've accepted that he's not coming back. So yeah, I guess I have."

"Okay." He said softly, a small smile playing at his lips.

"What are you thinking?" I asked, recognising the look on his face as the look he got when he was planning something.

"Nothing, just happy that you're doing so well." He said genuinely. I knew that wasn't all he was thinking, but I accepted it.

I went to bed that night wondering why Jacob hadn't imprinted on me, if he loved me as much as he said.

The next morning Jake went out on the early patrol and I went round to Emily's to help her clean the house and bake some goodies for the pack. A little before midday I heard howling in the distance, and Emily and I froze. It didn't sound good.

We both stood in shock, waiting for another noise or a sign that everything was alright. After a few minutes, we both began to panic. Suddenly, Jacob came running through the door with a pained expression on his face. I grabbed him and gave him a quick once over, letting out the breath I had been holding when I was satisfied that he wasn't hurt.

"What is it Jacob? Is it Sam? Is he hurt?" Emily began throwing the questions at him, the panic clearly rising through her.

"Sssh Emily, calm down. Sam's fine." He said, but his voice wasn't right. It sounded empty.

"Then what is it Jake?" I asked, feeling uneasy. "We heard the howl…"

"It's Harry Clearwater. He had a heart attack."

"Oh my god!" Emily and I said in unison. "Is he OK?" I continued, watching Jacob's expression become more pained.

"He died."

The silence in the room lasted a long time, as I gave Jake a hug. I knew our dads and Harry had been close for years. He hugged me back tightly.

"Is there anything we can do?" Emily asked, obviously wanting to make herself busy.

"Sam's over at the Clearwaters' now, it's pretty hectic."

I caught a glimpse of his expression, and knew there was more. "Has something else happened, Jake?"

He looked angry for a second, but it soon passed. "We've got two new werewolves."

"No!" Emily gasped, obviously understanding better than I did.

"Who?" I asked, glancing between the expressions on their faces.

"Seth and Leah Clearwater."

I gasped too.

"But, Leah is a – and Seth is only 14!" Emily cried. I should get over there, Sue must be going mad…"

Jake nodded as she headed out the door. He pulled me over to the sofa and sat down, pulling me onto his lap. "This is going to cause some serious problems." He muttered, hanging his head.

I stroked the side of his face, and he leaned against me. "What do you mean?"

He took a deep breath before he began. "It's a long story. Remember what I told you about imprinting?" I nodded. "Well, when Sam imprinted on Emily, he was already practically engaged to Leah Clearwater. They were so in love, then bam! Sam loves Emily and wants to spend the rest of his life with her. Not his fault obviously, but you can imagine how Leah felt."

"God. Poor Leah."

"Yeah, but that's not all. Emily and Leah are cousins, well more like sisters. At least they were, till Sam imprinted." I gasped, and he nodded in acknowledgement. "And now that Leah has phased, we're all going to be able to see her thoughts. Let's just say she's still pretty torn up about the whole thing, and she's only just going to find out what really happened."

I shook my head, feeling awful for all of them. It then dawned on me how painful it would be if I accepted my feelings for Jake as more than friendship, had a relationship with him, loved him, and then he went and imprinted. Could I ever risk suffering the pain of being abandoned by the man I loved again? I don't think my heart could take that kind of a beating for a second time.

I stayed in his lap on the sofa for a long time, just thinking about things. Before I realised what was going on, all the pack except for Sam had walked into the room looking depressed and exhausted. I gathered that Sam was still out with Leah and Seth: from what I had heard it took werewolves a long time to change back to their human form after the first time they phased. They dropped down onto various chairs and sofas around the room, and I looked up to see Paul looking at me with a strange expression. He must wonder why I was like this with Jacob after our kiss, so I shot him a smile to let him know it was just a friendly thing. He seemed to understand.

The silence of the house was quickly broken, and Quil and Embry were attempting to lighten the mood with funny stories about Harry. The spirits of the pack had soon lifted, and it made me smile that Jake was even joining in with the telling of the stories. I remembered the cookies and muffins we had been preparing earlier, so I left the pack to their talk while I went to continue baking. I put a tray of cookies in the oven, and felt a warm arm around my middle. Breathing in I realised it was Paul: his scent was slightly different to Jacob's.

"You okay?" I asked, turning in his arms to face him.

"Yeah, I didn't know Harry as well as the rest of the guys. Sucks for Leah and Seth though."

"Yeah, it does" I agreed, thinking how awful Sue must be feeling too, having lost her husband and not being able to grieve with her children.

"Listen, I need to tell you something, but I can't really do it here. Can I see you tomorrow? It'll be Harry's funeral in the morning, but we could meet later?"

"Yeah, okay" I told him, unsure what he could want to say to me that he couldn't say here.

He leant forward then and gave me a sweet, gentle kiss on my lips. I tried to continue it but he pulled away, smiling. "Tomorrow." He said, and walked back to the others.

When the pack had eaten most of the food I had cooked, me and Jake headed back to his house to get some rest for tomorrow. I called Charlie to make sure he was alright before I went to bed, and found that him and Billy were spending the night at Sue's house as she didn't want to be alone. As far as he knew, Seth and Leah were away visiting a relative. Jake had told me earlier that they wouldn't be able to go to their dad's funeral, as it was too risky in case one of them phased. I felt awful for the Clearwaters, but there was nothing anyone could do to help.

Jake was waiting for me in bed by the time I had finished speaking with Charlie, and held his arms open for me as I crawled up beside him. We slept soundly, and I found I was really getting used to our routine. I was definitely sleeping better with Jacob next to me.


	7. Chapter 7

**All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer**

Jacob POV

CHAPTER SEVEN – The Funeral

I woke up on the morning of Harry's funeral in a shitty mood; I hated feeling depressed. There was so much shit going on at once what with Harry, the new phasings, the leech after Bella, and something I had seen in Paul's mind yesterday while we were phased. I didn't even want to think about that right now. We all just needed to get today out of the way to say goodbye to Harry properly, then we could deal with everything else.

Luckily for me when I had got out of the shower, the delicious smell of Bella's pancakes drifted to my nose, instantly improving my mood. I smiled. Anything to do with Bells made me smile.

I made my way down the hallway to the kitchen in just my towel, beads of water still rolling down my body but I didn't care; I was starving. I turned the corner to the kitchen and was greeted by a wonderful sight: Bella bending over getting something out of the oven. Every time I saw Bella in the kitchen I couldn't help but let my mind wander, and the familiar images seeped into my brain now. Bella cooking pancakes for our kids. That was my favourite.

I approached her quietly and waited for her to straighten up before I walked up behind her, wanting to embrace her from behind and rest my chin on her head. I loved our height difference when it came to things like that. Unfortunately she chose that moment to turn around. She jumped a little when she saw me, but then that smile that she saved for only me lit up her face and I couldn't help but grin back.

Her eyes began to wander then, as she realised my state of undress. Her gaze lingered on my chest for a second too long, and I grinned wider. Was that lust I could make out in her sparkling brown eyes? I sure hope so.

"Like what you see?" I asked, wiggling my eyebrows and rubbing my hand down my torso. That broke her out of her spell. Now she'll blush. Yep, how did I guess? God, she's so beautiful.

"Shut up, mutt" she said sarcastically as she turned away, and I snorted.

"Not very friendly" I laughed, finally giving into my need to touch her and walking over to pull her into a hug.

She rolled her eyes at me but hugged me back, like she always did. She couldn't resist me, I knew that only too well, but I didn't want to push her into anything. After our talk on the beach the other night I had _big _plans for us. As long as Paul didn't get in the way. That would have to be sorted out as soon as possible.

She pulled out of the hug and turned to pile my plate high with pancakes, covered with syrup. Just how I liked them. Then again, I think I'd like anything Bella put in front of me.

We sat at the table to eat, and her expression turned serious. "You ready for today?"

"Yeah. It's gonna be tough though. Harry was like an uncle to me."

"I know. I'm there for you though, you know?"

I nodded and gave her a grateful smile, grabbing her hand from across the table. How could anyone not love this girl? She was perfect. God only knows why I hadn't imprinted on her. _Yet._

We finished breakfast and got dressed for the funeral, then waited for our dads and my sister to get here. Dad had been at Sue's all night with Charlie, and Rachel had come back from college for the funeral. Harry meant a lot to us, so I was glad that at least one of my sisters had made the effort to come home and say goodbye. It was great to finally get to see Rachel again, but she was coming home for the worst reason possible. Would be nice if they'd actually visit us for good things once in a while.

Bella held my hand through the whole ceremony, keeping me strong. The only thing that annoyed me was the way Paul kept glancing over at her. We were definitely going to have to have words today, it couldn't go on any longer.

That evening we were at the beach, where a bonfire was being thrown in Harry's honour. Dad, Charlie and Sue were sitting by the fire with sad expressions, and even Quil was reserved with his jokes. I was sitting with Bella, keeping her warm when she turned to me.

"I'm going to go and speak to Charlie for a bit, I've not really seen much of him lately. What with Harry dying so young, it makes you worry doesn't it?"

"Yeah" I agreed, glancing at dad. "Go on, I'll go talk to the guys for a bit." She kissed me on the cheek before heading off to the other side of the fire to sit with her dad. I saw my opportunity to speak to Paul, so after spotting him over by the sea I approached him. He turned to see who was coming towards him, and a worried expression covered his face.

"This is Harry's funeral so I'm not going to cause a scene, but what the _fuck _is going on with you?" I whisper shouted to him, not wanting to draw attention to us.

"What do you mean?" he asked, acting clueless. I could see on his face though that he was far from clueless.

"Do you really want me to spell it out for you?" He made no attempt to reply so I pressed on. "You've been acting weird for ages now, hiding stuff in your head when you're phased. Then you suddenly started being nice to Bella when all I used to hear you say was how much you hated the 'leech lover'. And then yesterday when you phased in you were thinking about _kissing_ her!" He still said nothing. "Explain. _Now._"

"Look, Jake, I really don't know what's going on. You're right, I hated her. Then all of a sudden I just… started having feelings for her. I'm really sorry man, I know what she means to you, but I seriously think I'm in love with her. I was gonna tell her today."

My hands started to tremble as I thought of Paul with Bells, _my _Bells, and I was about to punch him in his face when someone called my name. I turned to see Rachel heading down the beach towards us. When I turned back to tell Paul we would continue this later, I noticed his expression and couldn't hold in the rage I suddenly felt.

He was staring at Rachel, at _my sister, _and I knew that look. I had seen that look twice before through the pack mind. Paul had imprinted.

"Are you _fucking _serious?" I spat at him, too quiet for Rachel to hear. "You tell me you're in love with the love of my life, then you fucking _imprint _on my _sister_?"

Paul didn't respond; he was too busy staring at Rachel. I felt like pummelling his face in, but thought better of it. _Later._

"What's up, Rach?" I asked, using every inch of self-control I had to make my voice calm.

"Just seeing if you're going to come home with us. The Swans are coming to ours to watch a film or something, I've had enough with all the sadness now." She was speaking to me, but looking at Paul with an odd expression on her face. "Hi, Paul." She said, then leaned her head so he couldn't see her face. "What's up with him?"

I turned back to Paul and he was still standing there with that dumb, dreamy expression on his face. I shoved him, probably a bit too roughly, and he shook himself out of it a little. "Um, hi Rachel. How are you?"

"I'm at a funeral, what do you think?" she snapped, looking at him like he was retarded. I couldn't help but laugh as she pulled me back up the beach, away from him. If Paul was going to imprint on one of my sisters, I was glad it was Rach. Unlike Becca, _she _didn't take any shit. She definitely wasn't going to make it easy for him.

"He's changed" she said when we were far enough away from him. "Did he get dropped on his head or something? He's grown a freaky amount too, but then again you have as well. You must have grown a foot since I last saw you." She said, stopping and looking up at me.

"Probably" I nodded. She hadn't seen me since I was 14, so I probably had grown a foot thanks to the werewolf growth spurt.

"How tall are you now?"

"6 feet 7 last time I checked."

She shook her head. "Freaky. Must be a Quileute thing."

"Yeah, must be." I agreed, laughing a little. No doubt she'd know exactly what it was soon enough.

We walked over to the rest of the family, and I was including Bells and Charlie in my family. Bella would be my wife one day imprint or not, I knew it better than I knew anything. Rachel let go of her grip on my arm, so I walked over to Bells and placed her under my arm, smiling down and kissing the top of her head. She fit there so perfectly, why wouldn't I imprint? Surely I was better for Bella than Paul was for my sister?

Bells must have felt my tension as we walked back to my house, because she slowed her pace a little so that we dropped behind the others. I looked down at her and found that she was watching me closely.

"What happened?"

She knew me too well, just like I could read her she always knew when my mood changed.

"It's nothing, just Paul… he imprinted on Rachel. Just now."

She gasped in shock. "Does she know?"

"Not yet. Thinks there's something wrong with Paul's head." I laughed, remembering the look on both their faces. "No doubt Sam will call a pack meeting to tell her tomorrow when they've all realised what's happened."

She went quiet for a while, deep in thought. When she looked back at me to say something, I was expecting it to be about Paul.

"Why do you think you haven't imprinted on me, Jake?"

I sighed, not wanting to have this conversation yet even though it was unavoidable. "I honestly don't know Bells. I've thought about it a lot. I thought at first it was because of Edward, but I don't know now. Maybe I'm just not supposed to imprint." I shrugged. Either way, I didn't care as long as I could be with Bella for the rest of my life.

"Or you haven't met her yet." She said quietly. I stopped abruptly, pulling her to a stop too and taking her face in my hands. She looked like she was about to cry.

"Listen to me, Bella Swan. You are the only girl I will ever love. I know it, the pack knows it, the tribe knows it. The Gods know it, but for some reason I haven't imprinted. Honestly Bella, I don't care that you're not my imprint. I love you, imprint or not, and I always will. Even if you had stayed with the- with Edward and become one of them, I would still have loved you forever. I only see you Bella, that's how it's always been."

The tears streamed down her face as I finished my speech, and I wiped them away with my thumbs. I started to straighten up to carry on walking, but she grabbed my face and pulled me closer. Standing on her tiptoes, she crushed her lips onto mine, wiping my mind free of all thought as I revelled in the feel of her. The kiss was fierce and passionate, completely different to how I had ever imagined our first kiss would be. I held the back of her head with one hand and rubbed the small of her back with the other, while her hands rubbed up and down on my chest. Typical that the one day I have to wear a shirt, Bella decides to rub me like that.

She pulled away from me then, breathing quickly and staring deeply into my eyes. I stared back with the same intensity, and a huge grin broke across both our faces. She looked like she wanted to kiss me again but I knew it wasn't the right time, so I picked her up and held her flush against my body.

"Later, I promise." I told her, before carrying her the rest of the way home.


	8. Chapter 8

**All characters are owned by Stephenie Meyer**

**JACOB POV**

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

The next few hours sitting down with most of my family finally together should have been great, but it was like torture. Bella curled up close beside me on the sofa like she always did, but this time it was different. This time, every time we touched it felt like electrical pulses were passing between us; the sexual tension between us was ridiculous. I couldn't understand how no one else in the room had noticed it, unless they had and just didn't comment. But that didn't seem likely with my sister; if she had noticed she wouldn't have let it go without teasing me.

Bella wasn't helping the situation. I had no doubt that she was experiencing the same feelings as me, but she didn't have to deal with an erection. Every time she squirmed against me, I had to scrape the bottom of my barrel of self-control to look normal. I'm sure she was trying to kill me.

As soon as the end credits began on the film we had watched, well what they had watched while I tried to control my dick, I made some sort of excuse about an early night and dragged Bella off to my room. As soon as I shut the door I turned back and pushed her against it.

"Do you want to stay here, or do you want to go for a walk? 'Cause I am seriously struggling to keep it together right now." I told her quickly, using all my will power not to rub my hands on her body.

"I know I'm the same, I think we should take a walk to cool down."

"Perfect" I said, grabbing her hand and tugging her to the window. I climbed through first, then held out my arms for her to climb down.

We walked in silence back to the beach, seeing that everyone had left the bonfire before we began whatever was coming. I walked her over to our tree, sitting down on it and pulling her into my lap. After a few minutes of silence, I spoke up first.

"Look Bells, you know how I feel and nothing can change that. So I'm not going to pressure you into anything. I want you to take your time and understand what your feelings are before we act on them. I want you to be ready to love me."

We sat in another comfortable silence for a while, staring out to sea, before she turned her head round to face me.

"I am ready, Jake. I have been for a while." I stared at her in shock for a while before I managed to speak again.

"Ready for what, Bella?" No matter what I was silently wishing Bella would say, I was definitely not expecting the next three words to come out of her mouth.

"I love you, Jacob Black."

I kissed her quickly; on the lips, chin, nose, cheeks, forehead. "You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that, honey."

She smiled at me then, the brightest smile I had seen in a long time. "I love it when you call me honey."

"Well then I will definitely call you honey more often," I laughed, kissing her hair and inhaling her delicious scent. I had never felt happier; the love of my life finally acknowledged that she loved me back.

We remained sat on the tree until it was really late, just gazing at each other and kissing each other tenderly. A new sense of calm had filled me, I now felt complete. Eventually Bella fell asleep in my arms, so I carried her back to my bed. All of my anger towards Paul had gone, after all he had imprinted on my sister and not Bella. I just wished that I could imprint on her to give her that security she needed after the leech had broken her.

**BELLA POV**

I woke up in Jacob's bed the morning after the funeral, not remembering how I got there. The last thing I could remember was sitting in Jacob's lap on the beach, on our tree. I turned my head to look at his sleeping form; he always looked so peaceful when he was asleep. He had a slight smile on his face, which made me happy.

A lot had happened yesterday. Harry's funeral had been really sad, but that was only the start of my eventful day. I never had chance to speak to Paul, because it turned out that he had imprinted on Rachel Black. Then at the beach, I had admitted my true feelings to Jacob. Thinking of how happy he had been when I finally told him I love him made me giggle; his brilliant smile had been irresistible.

Kissing Paul had finally made me see that I could move on from Edward, and I could be very happy without him. I didn't have any deeper feelings for Paul; he was just really sweet, and sexy. But kissing him and being able to feel passion had made me start to think of Jacob in different ways. I was a little sad that Paul's feelings towards me would now change, but his imprinting had triggered mine and Jake's kiss last night so I had no regrets.

When Jake had walked into the kitchen after his shower yesterday I really thought I was going to 'jump him', as Emily had described it. Watching the beads of water roll slowly down his perfectly defined chest and abs was too much to ignore, and obviously he noticed me looking. I was practically drooling over him.

I looked over him now, half naked as always, and felt those same feelings sweep over me. I needed to touch him. I reached my fingertips out to stroke his stomach gently, carefully. The heat that travelled through my body when our skin came into contact was delicious. I rubbed slow circles into his side, then looked to his face to see the smile had broadened into a huge grin.

"Are you awake, you jerk?" I tried to sound angry but couldn't help the laughter slipping through.

He opened his eyes, still grinning, and looked at me. "I didn't want to open my eyes, I thought I was dreaming."

I snorted and withdrew my hand from his body, but he quickly caught hold of it and pulled me closer to him. When I was no more than an inch from him he raised his head slightly to kiss my lips. "Morning Bells" he said in his sexy husky voice.

"Morning Jake" I smiled against his lips.

"So…" he began to say, but seemed to lose his nerve.

"So?" I prompted him, raising an eyebrow. He let out a sigh, before continuing.

"Any regrets?" he asked, barely meeting my eyes.

"About what?" I asked innocently, trying my best not to smirk.

"Everything that happened yesterday; us… and Paul…"

"Nope, no regrets." I told him with a smile, and his face lit up. "You?"

"Of course not. If it hadn't been Harry's funeral, and Paul hadn't imprinted on my sister, yesterday would have been the best day of my life."

"Yeah, we sure did pick a great moment didn't we." I muttered, but I still couldn't regret kissing Jake and finally admitting my feelings.

"So… what happens now?" Jake asked quietly, looking nervous again.

"I'll make pancakes, as usual." I teased, making him frown at me.

"You know what I mean Bells."

"Well, you tell me! _I _kind of wanted to make our relationship more official, but if you want to keep it casual…"

"Of course I don't want to keep it casual!" he answered quickly. "I want everything with you Bella, I just don't want to freak you out or rush you into anything."

"Good. Because I love you, and I think I would struggle a lot to go back to just being your friend after yesterday. I don't think friends are supposed to be thinking about jumping each other every moment they're together."

"Why not? That's how I've felt for months." Jake laughed, kissing me sweetly. "I love you too, Bells."

We got out of bed before either of us gave into the temptation of taking our physical relationship any further, and I went straight to the kitchen to cook our breakfast. Billy was already sitting in the kitchen reading the paper, and I could hear that Rachel was in the shower.

"I'm gonna phase for a minute to see what's going on after yesterday." Jake said as he passed me, kissing my hair before disappearing out of the back door.

"What happened yesterday?" Billy called after him, but he was already gone. I wasn't sure if I should tell him, but as the chief of the tribe and Rachel's dad I knew he would find out sooner or later and I didn't want to be left in awkwardness until Jake returned.

"Paul imprinted." I told him, and he raised his eyebrows, seeming very shocked. He thought about it for a moment, then smiled.

"That should be good for him. Is she from the reservation?"

"He imprinted on Rachel." I told him, wincing at the instant change in his expression. He looked horrified. "She doesn't know yet."

Billy looked as though he wanted to say several different things, before taking a deep breath to calm himself. "I'm surprised Jacob is so calm about this; I'm sure he must not have wanted this for his sister."

"He's pretty angry about it, but apparently Rachel didn't exactly fall head over heels for Paul. I think she thought he had some sort of brain damage."

He chuckled at that. "That's my girl, she will definitely not take it easy on Paul. I cannot question the gods' decision, but Paul would definitely not be my first choice as a son-in-law."

"He's not as bad as his reputation makes him seem, Billy. He's actually a really great guy, I think him and Rachel will be good for each other."

We settled into a silence then, clearly agreeing to disagree. I made the pancakes quickly and had just finished dishing them up when Jake came back through the door.

"So, Paul and Rachel?" Billy asked as soon as he saw his son. Jake glanced at me, and I panicked.

"Sorry Jake I told him, I thought it would be ok with him being the chief of the tribe and everything?"

"It's fine Bells, you saved me a job." He told me with a reassuring smile. I relaxed when I couldn't see any sign of anger in his eyes. "Yeah, dad." He finally answered, looking at Billy. "Crazy, huh?"

"Yeah, crazy." Billy replied. "When will Rachel be told?"

"Pack meeting tonight at Emily's place, that's what I went to find out."

Just then I heard the shower stop running, and Jake and Billy abruptly stopped talking as I placed their plates in front of them. The three of us sat and ate in silence until Rachel appeared in the doorway. She walked into the room and glanced around at us, so I smiled at her when she caught my eye.

"Ok, why is it so quiet in here? I never used to be able to get a word in at meal times."

"Just enjoying the peace." Billy answered without looking up, and Jake smirked knowingly. No doubt there wouldn't be much peace in this house once Rachel found out about the imprint, and everything that came along with it.

"There's pancakes for you on the stove." I told her, trying to act normal. She didn't look convinced by her dad's answer, but picked up the plate and joined us at the table.

"Thanks Bella." She said, before digging in. "Wow, I haven't had pancakes this good since mum was alive." She told me after her first bite, looking at Jake with a smile.

"I know, right? Bells is an amazing cook." He told her, grinning at me as I blushed.

"So what's going on today, can I hang out with my baby brother or do you have plans with all the freakishly massive boys round here?" Rachel asked after we had all finished our food in silence.

"I'm um… going for a run for a bit, but we've been invited to a get together at Emily's house tonight if you want to go?" Jake asked, nearly slipping up and telling her that he had to go and patrol.

"Yeah ok, it's not like there's anything better to do round here than hang around with a bunch of overgrown teenage boys. Are you going for a run with him, Bella?" she asked me.

"No, I'm not exactly into exercise." I laughed, before turning to Jake. "I take it I'm needed at Emily's house to help with the food?"

"Think so." He replied, looking apologetic. Rachel looked a little disappointed, so I decided to invite her along.

"You can come with me if you want? I mean, if you've not got anything you'd rather do for the day."

"I can't really cook." She replied, looking a little embarrassed.

"That's ok; Jared's girlfriend Kim can't cook either. We'll just hang out together while the boys are running."

"Well in that case, I could do with some girl talk. And I want to get to know you better, you and Jake are obviously close."

"Yeah we are." I smiled, sharing a look with Jake and then quickly looking away, not wanting his dad and sister to notice the sexual tension that had suddenly become a problem for us. When I looked back at Rachel though, she was grinning knowingly. "So, what time are you going for your run?" I asked Jake conversationally, in an attempt to sound casual.

"Half an hour." He told me, glancing at the clock. I'll walk you to Emily's, that's where I'm meeting Sam."

"Ok, I'm going to take a quick shower first." I told him, getting up from my chair. I almost let myself kiss his cheek as I passed him, but luckily I remembered my place before Rachel noticed how close I got. I had no idea how we would keep so many things from Rachel today; she didn't know about the wolves, or vampires, or me and Jake, or Paul's feelings for her. It was going to be a _long _day.


	9. Chapter 9

**All characters are owned by Stephenie Meyer**

Bella POV

On our way to Emily's house the three of us bumped into Embry and Quil, so I took the opportunity to pull Jake to one side while Rachel chatted with them.

"How the hell am I going to get through today? You know I can't lie!" I whisper shouted, letting him know how worried I was about trying to keep this huge secret from his sister.

"It'll be fine honey, she doesn't know anything. Plus you'll have the girls, so you can figure it out together." He responded quietly, looking perfectly at ease.

"That's alright for you to say, you're all staying away for the day!" I complained, feeling a little annoyed that Jake and the guys were leaving us to deal with this alone.

"Don't worry about it Bells, Emily has to deal with this kind of thing all the time. And Kim too; their families don't know about us so they're used to making stuff up under pressure. Just let them take the lead if you don't feel comfortable."

"Fine." I muttered, still annoyed. "I almost kissed you at the table earlier by the way, that would have been awkward."

"I know, I keep having to stop myself from touching you in front of people, it's hard to carry on acting like just your friend." He said, smiling down at me. "I was thinking we should probably tell everyone tonight, the guys are probably going to see it in my mind today anyway."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. How do you think they'll take it?"

"They'll be happy for us, except for maybe-" he abruptly stopped what he was saying then as Rachel was making her way over to us; we had reached Emily's house. I looked at him wanting to know who wouldn't want us to be together, but he just gave me a weird look. It was soon gone though, as he grinned and bent over to hug me. "Have a good day, girls!" he said, jogging down the road to catch up with Sam, Embry and Quil who had already set off. I had to hand it to them; they really did look like they were just going for a normal run.

"Right, let's get inside." I told Rachel, smiling at her before leading her up the steps of Emily's porch. I thought about knocking but the door was already open, so I stepped inside and called out.

"Emily?"

"Hey vampire girl, we're in the kitchen." _Shit. _The first slip up of the day, and we had only just set foot in the house. I glanced at Rachel and giggled awkwardly.

"Vampire girl?" she asked, frowning slightly as we walked towards the kitchen.

"Yeah, um… silly nickname Emily has for me. Because I'm so pale." I told her, internally praising myself for the quick thinking. She seemed satisfied by my answer, so I hurried to join Emily before she said something else that I couldn't explain so well.

"Hi Emily, you remember Rachel?" I said a little too loudly before we had even made it through the kitchen door, trying to warn Emily of Rachel's presence before she made any more references to the secret. When I rounded the corner I saw that she had stopped dead in her tracks and looked horrified, but she quickly changed her expression when Rachel walked in the room behind me.

"Hi," Rachel said. "You have a really lovely home."

"Hey Rachel, thanks so much!" Emily replied, quickly becoming the bubbly, friendly Emily I had always known her as. "Come on in, take a seat! Do either of you want a drink?"

She quickly busied herself with fixing us both a glass of lemonade, casting me weary glances whenever Rachel wasn't paying attention. I managed to silently let her know that she hadn't let the secret slip through a series of expressions, and she finally settled down.

"So, you go to Washington State?" Emily asked Rachel as she joined us at the table.

"Yeah, I graduate in a couple of months though." She replied, taking a sip of the lemonade Emily had made for us. "Wow, this is great!"

"Thanks." Emily replied with a smile. "So, have you decided what you're going to do once you've graduated?" The question seemed innocent enough, but I knew that Emily was trying to find out how Rachel would take the news of Paul's imprinting.

"I'm not completely sure yet, I guess I need to start looking for a job now though! There are a couple of big firms based in Seattle, or I was thinking about going over to Hawaii for a while to see Rebecca."

"So, no plans to come home?" Emily asked, glancing at me quickly. I felt awful for Rachel that her plans would probably be changing greatly, but also awful for Paul as his imprint would probably not take the news very well.

"No. That sounds really bad doesn't it? I mean, I miss dad and Jake loads, but ever since mum died I just couldn't wait to get away from La Push. There are too many painful memories for me round here."

I couldn't help but feel a little annoyed by Rachel's selfishness. Although Jake very rarely spoke about his mother, I knew that her death had a great effect on him, and his sisters hadn't stuck around for very long before leaving a young Jake to look after their wheelchair-bound father. Before I could voice my irritation, we heard the front door open and Kim called her greeting.

"In the kitchen, Kim!" Emily called back, glancing at me. "Bella and Rachel are here too!" She continued, obviously wanting to prepare Kim so that she didn't make the same mistake she had.

Over the next few hours we baked lots of food for the meeting tonight, chatting a lot about the guys. There were a few near misses with various references to the 'wolves', but luckily Rachel bought Emily's quick explanation that we nicknamed the boys 'wolves' due to their eating habits.

"Do they usually run for this long?" Rachel asked as she glanced up at the clock. The boys had been gone for almost four hours, which of course was a ridiculous amount of time for any normal men to go jogging.

"I think they had a couple of errands to run afterwards." Emily told her, looking to the clock herself. "They should be home soon."

"So, what's going on with you and my baby brother, Miss Swan?" Rachel suddenly asked, and I remembered the way she had looked at me when I had been with Jake earlier.

"Um… I…" I stuttered, feeling my cheeks burn. "He's my friend." I finally finished, and I noticed Emily roll her eyes.

"It's a little more than that." Emily laughed. "Jake loves Bella, but she went through a… difficult break up recently." She explained to Rachel, who nodded knowingly.

"Anyone I know?" she asked me. "Was it someone on the res?"

Emily snorted at that, and Kim had to nudge her so that Rachel wouldn't notice.

"No, he wasn't from the res." I told her, not wanting to divulge any more information about Edward yet. "Anyway, I'm over that." I told Emily defiantly, and she looked shocked.

"Since when?"

"Since yesterday. After the funeral."

"What happened after the funeral?" she asked with wide eyes, and I became very aware of the three sets of eyes that were now fixed on me. I glanced uncomfortably at Rachel, wanting Emily to get the hint that I didn't want to talk about it, but it was Rachel who spoke up.

"Don't worry about it being awkward Bella, I don't mind you talking about Jake in front of me. I actually think you would be good together."

The three girls gave me an encouraging look, and I let out a sigh. "We kissed." I told them quickly, instantly covering my face with my hands.

"Finally!" Emily and Kim both laughed, and Rachel looked at them in surprise.

"You don't understand how much Jake talks about Bella," Emily explained to her, before turning back to me. "I'm just glad you've finally taken your relationship a step further! So, do you like him now?"

"I've always liked him." I replied indignantly, still not looking from behind my fingers.

"I mean _like _him." She said, the way she pronounced the word making the meaning very different. I seriously thought about not answering, but knew it would be easier in the long run if I just answered her questions now.

"Yes, Emily. I like him. And I _like _him. In fact I… never mind."

"Were you just going to say what I think you were going to say?" she asked, eyebrows raised high on her forehead and an eager expression on her face.

"Probably." I admitted with a smile.

There were excited screeches from Emily and Kim, while Rachel looked at me intently.

"I can tell you've been good for Jake." She told me with a smile. "He's happier when he's with you, I can see that already."

"Jake's the one who's been good for me." I told her, fully meaning it. "I had a pretty… strange year, and Jake's really been there for me."

Emily and Kim exchanged a knowing look at that, which unfortunately didn't go unnoticed by Rachel.

"What's going on here? I feel like there's some big secret going on that I don't know about… it's really weird!"

The three of us exchanged uncomfortable looks, but just as Emily opened her mouth probably to tell Rachel another well-rehearsed lie, the front door opened and we heard the voices of the boys.

"In here!" Emily called out, sounding grateful for their timely arrival. Rachel continued to look around the table as if waiting for an answer, but we all busied ourselves with greeting the boys once they had stepped into the kitchen.

Jake walked straight towards me and pulled me into a tight hug, whispering that he had missed me. As soon as he had set me back in my seat and glanced at Rachel though he must have sensed the tension, as he turned to face Sam who was standing with his arms around Emily.

"I think it's time for this meeting, Sam." He said seriously, and Sam glanced at Rachel before nodding.

"OK Paul, do you want to come through and say your piece?"


	10. Chapter 10

**All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer**

**CHAPTER TEN**

**Bella POV**

Rachel looked up at the sound of Paul's name, seeming confused at the sudden seriousness that filled the room. Jared, who had just entered the room to greet his imprint, made his excuses and walked back out into the living room with Kim as Paul walked in, glancing around at us all.

"Should we go too?" I asked Jake quietly, unsure how this thing usually worked.

"No, Paul wants us to stay. In case Rach flips out." He explained, and the look on his face told me that he fully expected Rachel to take the news badly.

I looked away from Jake and back to Paul, who was still standing awkwardly in the doorway with a nervous expression. He was staring at Rachel in a scared way, but then surprised me by turning to face me.

"Hey Bella." He said in a dejected kind of voice, not quite meeting my eye. I heard a low growling sound that seemed to come from Jake's chest, but I couldn't understand why he would be growling at Paul for speaking to me.

"Hi Paul." I responded with a small smile, trying to give him courage for what he was about to do. He certainly didn't look confident.

After a painfully long silence, Jake spoke up. "Remember what I said Paul, the quicker the better."

Paul seemed to understand whatever this meant, as he nodded slowly and took a deep breath, stepping towards Rachel. The apprehension was still clear upon his face, but he spoke confidently.

"Rachel, do you remember the stories your dad and Old Quil used to tell us at the bonfires?"

Rachel looked completely dumbfounded by the change in conversation. "The tribal legends?" she asked slowly, clearly unaware of where this was going.

"Yeah. Do you remember any details of the legends?"

She seemed to rack her brains for a minute before she responded. "We used to play a game, what did we call it Jake? You were a wolf and you had to catch me and Becca because we were the cold ones. It was like some sort of horror story my dad made up to scare the kids wasn't it?"

"It pretty much is a horror story, yeah." Jake responded as he glanced at me, clearly thinking about my close encounter with the vampires.

"But your dad didn't make it up." Paul told her, willing her with his eyes to understand what he was trying to say.

"So… one of the other elders made it up?" she asked, looking puzzled.

"No, nobody made it up Rachel. The legends are true." Paul said, looking relieved to finally get it off his chest.

Silence fell upon the room for a very long time, as we all exchanged glances and waited for Rachel to respond. Finally she looked up, but she spoke to Jake, not Paul.

"You expect me to believe that vampires and werewolves are real?" she asked, her tone incredulous. "I've been away at college all this time Jake, not Clown School. I'm not an idiot."

"We know you're not an idiot!" Paul told her, pulling out a chair to sit across the table from her. "But it's true Rachel, all of us are werewolves."

She glanced around the room quickly, before settling her gaze on me.

"Not me." I told her quickly. "Just the boys."

"You know what you said to me at the funeral, about my growth spurt being a Quileute thing?" Jake paused long enough for Rachel to nod, before continuing. "Well you were right, it is a Quileute thing. The gene has been passed down for generations, and we were the ones lucky enough to inherit it." I was sure everyone could hear the sarcasm in his voice; it was no secret that the boys wouldn't have chosen this life for themselves.

"So you're trying to tell me that you turn into wolves?" Rachel clarified, and the boys all nodded. "What, like on a full moon or something?"

"No, pretty much when we want or need to." Paul responded, still peering at her nervously and waiting for her reaction once the information had sunk in. She still looked disbelieving, so Jake spoke up again.

"Do you want me to show you?"

She glanced at him like he was crazy, but then surprised everyone by smiling. "Sure baby brother, you go ahead and show me how you turn into a wolf."

"OK, come outside with me because there's not enough room in here." He said, quickly turning and heading for the back door, still holding my hand. Rachel got up from her seat and followed, as did Paul, Sam and Emily.

Once we were outside, Jake let go of my hand and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, before taking off his shorts and handing them to me.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rachel shouted, quickly averting her eyes from her now naked brother.

"Don't want to shred another pair of shorts." He replied with a shrug. "Dad won't buy me any more so Emily has to sew them back together."

He took a few steps away from us and I heard Rachel mutter something that sounded like 'they're all crazy.'

"You need to look now Rach or you'll miss it." Jake told her, and she finally turned her gaze back to him, just in time to see his body disappear, only to be replaced by a large russet coloured wolf. Rachel's mouth opened in a gasp, but Jacob didn't seem to think she would be scared of him as he began to move towards us. He stopped right in front of me, leaning forward and licking my cheek with his huge tongue.

"Ewww, Jake!" I laughed, wiping my face with my sleeve while he sat down, smiling.

"That's my brother?" Rachel asked me as he nuzzled his heavy head into the crook of my neck.

"Oh yeah, that's Jake." I laughed, stroking the soft fur on his face while I watched Rachel's reaction. She continued to stare at him for a little while longer before she spoke again.

"OK, I've seen enough."

Immediately Jake got back on all fours, giving me one last lick before taking a few steps away from us and phasing back into his human form. I quickly handed him his shorts to save Rachel's embarrassment, and waited for someone to speak. After a few awkward moments, Paul finally broke the silence.

"So… what now?" he asked, glancing awkwardly at Rachel and then at me.

"You tell her the rest." Jake shrugged, placing his arm around my shoulders and leading me back towards the house.

"Where are you going?" Paul asked, sounding desperate.

"Inside. This is best coming from you Paul, without us lot around."

"But…" Paul stammered, looking lost as he looked uncomfortably between us and his imprint.

"Good luck man!" Jake laughed as we walked back through the door and into Emily's house. Just before the door closed I heard Rachel shout, "What the hell is going on now?" but then there was only silence.

"What's happening?" I asked Jake as we stood in the kitchen. I couldn't hear a thing, but I knew he would be able to hear every word.

"He's just told her she's his imprint." He told me, staring towards the door.

"How's she taking it?" I asked, feeling out of the loop as the boys all listened in on the conversation that my ears were not capable of hearing.

"She doesn't know what an imprint is. He's trying to explain to her."

We all waited in silence for a while, as I decided it would be easier to just let Jake listen so that he could tell me when he heard anything important. Suddenly the silence was shattered as the back door flew open, and Rachel stormed angrily into the house. She didn't stop to even acknowledge us, but stomped straight through the house and back out through the front door. A very dejected looking Paul followed her into the house, pausing to look at Jake.

"Should I go after her?" he asked, and Jake quickly shook his head.

"Nah, she can be pretty violent when she's pissed. Just let her cool off for a day or two, she'll come round."

"Come on Paul take a seat, you can have the first plate of muffins." Emily said pleasantly in an attempt to lighten Paul's mood. Like any of the boys Paul couldn't turn down an offer of food, so he slumped sullenly into the nearest chair and ate in silence while the rest of us tried to make conversation. The subject of mine and Jake's relationship had been forgotten, so I was thankfully spared the awkward questions. I could tell that Jake had told the boys about us though, as I received knowing looks from Quil and Embry every now and again.

As Jake and I walked back to his house a few hours later, I asked him the question that had been playing on my mind all day.

"Do you think Rachel will come round, Jake? I mean, from what she said to me and Emily earlier I don't think she wanted to stay here for long."

"I know, she told me she wanted to spend some time in Hawaii then find a job in Seattle. But I don't think she has a choice any more Bells, the imprint bond is too strong to deny."

I wanted to ask more questions, but decided they could wait. The silence didn't last for long though, as Jacob came to a stop suddenly and turned to face me.

"Can I do something?" he asked, but before I could respond his lips were on mine, kissing me passionately. After a few moments we both broke away panting, with matching grins on our faces. "I've wanted to do that all day." He told me, cupping my face with his huge hands and gazing into my eyes.

"I've wanted you to do that all day." I admitted, still grinning from ear to ear. "I like this; being like this with you. It feels so… natural."

"I know, honey. I've wanted this to happen for so long and now that it has… it's better than I could ever have imagined."

"I love you, Jake."

"I love you too, Bells. Always."


End file.
